Tokimeki Feelings
by ShinRa Inc
Summary: Rated for stuff coming later. As the wheel of life turns round and round after Luther, how do our favorite characters from SO3 relate to each other? A collection of their stories.


Tokimeki Feelings

A Studio Sad Pen2 In sNow (S.P2.I.N.) and ShinRa Inc. Production

¤´¨)  
¸.•´¸.•´¨) ¸.•¨)  
(¸.•´ (¸.•¤.Sessha ¤

Disclaimer: All things here are not the author's intellectual property and are not for profit. All names, instances, places, and things are the property of SQUARE ENIX.

Author's Rant-thingy: Well… This is my second SO3 ficcy. (My first was so unfairly erased from because it was in "script form". Bleah. What the hell is wrong with script form!

…

Bastards.

…

Anyway, this fic centers on everybody that can come to my mind, and if you have any suggestions for filler/stuff, just click the blessed little blue button in the bottom-left corner.

As for the inspiration for this thing…just other SO3 ficcies. For the title, it's Japanese (duh).

Tokimeki: loosely translated as "heart-a-flutter"

As another side note, this storyline works on all the /Fayt endings. Just think of them all happening in different instances (ignore the Fayt/Maria ending…for now, anyway…)

Well, here we go. Hope you enjoy it!

* * *

Airyglyph Castle, Observatory tower.

Nel Zelpher was a young woman. Not exactly a spring chicken, but in no way at all past her prime.

Here she was on top of the Observatory tower, letting the light snow fall about her, making no motions to guard against it.

Let's take a look at what she is thinking about it with out omnipotent powers over her universe.

* * *

She was strong, important, intelligent, beautiful…

…

She had all the things she could want in her life. Her own room in Castle Aquaria, her kind friend Claire, a (freakishly) stable job, quite a fortune in salary…

…

Then why was she so sad? This strange…feeling…of emptiness…. She almost would call it, "longing"…

_But what in the world would I want? I have all the things I need and want…I think._

…

_Then...what?_

…

Then it hit her like a meteor. _Him._

No, not Apris… Not some sort of four-dimensional technician who coincidentally became made into a god…

_Him._ That one man she _longed_ for. _Wanted with her entire heart. Craved his attentions._

…

The more she thought about him, the more depressed she became.

Ever since Luther's defeat, she and Fayt had become increasingly distant.

She had her job cleaning up the loose ends left over by the war. Fayt had his domestic problems of being the savior of the entire galaxy (and the most desired man on the entire planet…next to that hermaphroditic mutant, Albel)

She laughed at her new way to describe Albel.

That strange, beautiful, yet seemingly uncaring man… Who wore thigh-high panty hose and a skirt with a split down the side.

She laughed so hard, she nearly fell backwards on some wet snow and on her head.

…

That "man" was also one of her rivals…

And a particularly powerful rival at that…

…

One who was pretty, (begrudgingly, she admitted it) sexy, dark…

…

Why did Fayt spend so much time with that man-woman?

_Does Fayt **like** that in a woman?_

_Fayt likes those strange "goth" people that Maria told me about! That have emotional problems and wear dark clothing? …That does certainly describe Albel…_

Now at this point, one can understand that Nel has gone as pale as a ghost at this realization.

One can also understand that she is fighting against the guard (and about thirty others to back him up; fighting against a depressed level 100+ warrior with symbology almost makes it not worth it for that kind of work) on duty from keeping her from jumping off the tower in depression.

* * *

"Miss Nel, don't do it! It's not worth it!"

* * *

Once she had calmed down (and taken out exactly forty-six guards and had kicked out of the castle), she started the long walk back to Aquios by the Traum Mountain path.

She thought better of it and just sat on the bridge leading into the Royal City of Airyglyph. Still the snow everlastingly fell in Airyglyph's freakishly long winters. It gave her rose-crimson hair a strange, somewhat ethereal look to it, flecked with small bits of snowflakes.

Where was she? Oh, oh right. She was thinking about her relationship with Fayt before that obnoxious monster butted in (he was rude and selfish even in her thoughts!).

Oh right. She was thinking about Fayt's sudden aloofness to her…

Usually, Fayt spent most of his time here on Elicoor II (how it was given the "two" part in its name without her people's permission was very unfair to her).He was given a room in Castle Aquaria and helped Maria (she had adopted Elicoor as her new planet and was the new "Dion" as it were) and Lady Elena about research.

Of course, he was mostly known to be gallivanting about the Gaitt continent "doing acts of good throughout the land" and never was in the castle anyway because of it.

At this point, Fayt was a legend, even bigger than her, Claire, and Albel combined. So much, it was even disputed commonly if he was actually a real person depending on what part of the worldyou were on.

_If only they knew_… She thought and smiled as she thought of him.

Even just last week, he had saved a group of rival inventors from a huge fire in their workshop. Suffice to say, they didn't even ask to contract with him, even though they did give him some Oricalcum as a reward.

She thought about her relationship some more.

She never thought about falling in…love… It just happened.

…

Did she just admit that she was in…?

…

If only Claire and Rozaria could see her now. Her face had turned the color of her hair, all over "a boy".

She could hear their high-pitched squeals of joy and excitment even now if they knew about her feelings.

* * *

Back to her thoughts...

Even though Aquaria and Airyglyph had a shaky alliance, they had managed into fooling the surrounding countries (mainly the increasingly aggressive Greeton) that they were as strong as ever. They only thing keeping most of them away was the leader of the agression, Greeton, and it was barely held back fromfear of a trade embargo of their dependency on Airyglyph's metals and minerals and Aquaria's raw resources.

Beacause of such, she had managed to quell her current work state, and hadn't had any assignments for the better part of a month.

Maybe that was why she had too much time to think about her emotional status.

(Little did she know that the Queen and the majority of the Aquarian Royal work force was trying like hell to _make_ the workaholic Nel take a well-needed break.)

* * *

She hadn't even seen him for more than ten minutes in at least a full month…

She…she…_missed him._

As she though of him more and more, she became warmer, staving off the nipping cold of Airyglyph.

* * *

Was it even worth it to want him? She had waaaay too many rivals…

Both Airyglyph and Aquaria were trying to make him marry into the family through distant relatives…

The majority of the "age 13-30 unmarried female population" of the planet (as recently found out in a recent survey)…

And her worst rivals of all…her own friends.

That blue-haired "seductress" (as known by Nel) Maria, that fascinatingly cute and naïve Sophia…

Even Claire! Even though she had…"scolded"...her father for offering her hand in marriage like a common fairgrounds reward, it was mainly out of him not asking even her opinion of Fayt.

Although, Nel _knew_ she was…fond (as Claire called it)…of him though. Even the straight-laced Claire blushed like a little girl in front of Fayt.

And out of pity (and by allowing the outside chance), Albel the Wicked.

…

If she kept thinking about Fayt, she swore she was going to burst into flames from her internal heat.

In fact, she was feeling awfully weak. And her head hurt a lot too. Maybe she should go back to Aquios now.

…

Nary aminute later, the "invincible" Nel Zelpher the Crimson Blade fainted onto her back of the Royal City of Airyglyph's bridge.

…

Tenminutes later.

Nel woke up with a terrible headache. She didn't know where she was. She was cold and hot all at once and felt like Crosell had stepped on her for an hour straight.

She was being carried along by someone…along the Traum Mountain path… Strong arms…a man…

Blue hair…

…

Wait. _Blue_ hair!

"Fayt!" Nel screamed as she instantly came back to full consciousness.

"Finally you wake up. Are you okay?" He asked.

"Wait, put me down first!"

"No way, no how. You have a bad fever. If I hadn't come to find you, you would of died in that snow."

"…What happened?"

Fayt was so surprised, he stopped in his tracks.

"You mean you don't…? As I was coming into eyeshot of Airyglyph coming to find you, I saw you on the bridge when you fainted. I picked you up and tried to take you to the inn, but it's all full, so I was on my way to Kirlsa."

"…Thanks Fayt…"

Fayt smiled at his stubborn friend's hidden shyness tothanks and responded, "No problem. It's what you would've done for me. Besides, I haven't seen you in awhile. I'm going to be resting in Aquios for a few weeks."

"Besides, this isn't the first time I've saved you," he added with a slight chuckle.

_Saved me...? Oh yeah..._

* * *

Nel remembered when she had the gall to try and save Tynave and Farleen from the Black Brigade training facility.

When all was said and done...Fayt (and that irresponsible musclehead, Cliff) was there for her.

What happened next was when Nel first started to really...notice...Fayt.

Back at the inn in Kirlsa, afterscolding them for going after her (although she wouldn't have made it out otherwise), she asked why they did it...what Fayt said, she would never truly understand until later...

_"You can't expect us to abandon you?"_

While Nel kept a straight face, she was...touched...by Fayt's selfless concern for her, even though she had coerced them both into following her to Arias.

She didn't understand very well and didn't get much that sleep that night pondering away about Fayt...

But later, she understood.

That was the way Fayt was. He genuinely _cared_ about others with all his heart.

* * *

Nel also realized later, that Fayt cared for her too. But not in the way she wanted.

* * *

He started back on the path. Nel hugged his back tighter and took a quick whiff of his smell.

He was just as she thought it would be. Clean, but without any add-ons like cologne except something the offworlders called "deodorant".

Fayt was like that. Always preferring the natural. A boy just entering manhood.

Then she realized something.

No matter how much of a tomboy or "unladylike" she was, Fayt cared about her. Not the way she wanted him too, but Fayt was there when she needed him.

...She was just another girl entering womanhood, just a bit late.

She would tell him how she felt soon enough. Her rivals were probably in the same dilemma that she was in.

_Her_, yes, _her_ Fayt was safe for the time being, and she could leave her past thoughts for another day.

Right now, Fayt was all hers as he carried "Nel Zelpher the Crimson Blade"(+fever) to Kirlsa piggy-back style as if she was a child.

She smiled and rubbed her face in his neck as she fell asleep right there.

* * *

Fayt felt the tell-tale weight of Nel's sleeping head on his neck and felt releived. She was at least tired enough to not whine about him carrying her.

...Plus, he felt kind of embarassed and happy at the same time.

...By holding Nel up, his hands had traveled rather far up her legs...

Of course, he wished that she would stop drooling on his neck...

* * *

Ha ha ha. Did you like it? I hope you did. If you liked it a lot...just click that magical blue button in the bottom left corner and review.

Maybe one or two more chapters from Nel's point of view, then maybe the inventors.

Or even maybe I should venture into King Arzei's relationship with Lady Elena after his marriage to Rozaria...?

Meh.

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